Law and Order

Federal Charges Filed Against Man Who Allegedly Posted Online Threats of Violence at Women’s Reproductive Clinics


Luke Daniel Wiersma
Luke Daniel Wiersma (Source: Herald-Whig)

CHICAGO —(ENEWSPF)—February 9, 2018

By: Rosemary Piser

Luke Daniel Wiersma, 33, of Dyer, Ind., was charged this week with transmitting threats to injure and using threats of force to intimidate or interfere with women’s reproductive health services.

According to a criminal complaint and affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, Wiersma posted online threats of violence on at least seven occasions in October and November of last year.  Wiersma made the threats through the clinics’ websites, the complaint states.  The clinic in Chicago provides reproductive health services, while the clinic in Hammond, Ind., provides counseling services related to women’s reproductive health.

In one of the threats transmitted to the Chicago clinic on Oct. 29, 2017, Wiersma allegedly stated, “I will do anything and everything to stop the unmitigated murders of fetuses.  I will do anything to stop the atrocities committed by your clinic every minute of every day at your clinic.  You are all pieces of [expletive] and I will kill to stop these atrocities.  I will blow you up if I have to, burn the clinic down.  I will do whatever is necessary I swear to God I will.  After that you are in God’s hands and He will do His thing.”

Transmitting a threat to injure is punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and using threats of force to intimidate or interfere with reproductive health services is punishable by up to one year in prison.

The public is reminded that a complaint is not evidence of guilt.  The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Source: www.justice.gov


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